


Anything But Me

by colazitron



Category: Star Trek
Genre: Break Up, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-10-14
Updated: 2009-10-14
Packaged: 2017-11-27 08:20:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/659831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kirk wonders why Sulu seems to be mad at him. Chekov can elighten him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anything But Me

_You sent me out on a limb_  
You brought me home, sent me back again  
Out on that limb one too many times  
You should've known I'd learn to fly  
You can have anything on earth you need  
Anything that breathes you can surely steal its wings  
You can have everything on earth you see  
Anything on earth you need but me  


James Tiberius Kirk prided himself in being close with his crew and asserting his authority over them by mutual respect instead of being a strict and feared captain. But when helmsman Hikaru Sulu shot him the umpteenth dirty look of the past three days, he seriously questioned that method (and Sulu’s reasons for doing so). Surely it was inappropriate for his number one pilot to be so openly hostile towards him? That was probably dangerous for crew morale and if he asked Spock about it, he was sure there was a regulation against it somewhere.

But, James Kirk also prided himself in seeing the regulations more as guidelines than actual rules. And not wanting to be a hypocrite, he couldn’t very well demand that his crew behaved any different.

That left him with one more option (well, actually, there were a whole lot of options, but he liked this one the best as it meant minimum effort and maximum success – hopefully). Strolling into the mess hall, he scanned the room for one curly haired ensign. If there was anyone who could probably answer all questions related to Hikaru Sulu (or any question at all, for that matter) it was most probably Ensign Pavel Chekov.

Spotting him next to one of the huge port-holes staring out into the vast unknown blackness, he raised an eyebrow. Strange. The usually bubbly young man seemed almost… gloomy. Oh, he hoped to God this wasn’t some teenage crisis. There really wasn’t room for those on board a space ship. Not when you were the alpha shift navigator.

Opting to skip waiting for anything to drink or eat and do that after his shift in his cabin (ah, the perks of being captain), he meandered through the crowd towards his youngest crew member. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the bright red “at ease” he had painted on the wall of the mess hall three weeks into his captaincy when he had grown tired of everyone standing up to properly greet him. Luckily it had worked and no one paid him more attention than a nod of the head, should their gazes happen to meet.

“Mr. Chekov,” he greeted the young man who had not yet noticed him.

“Keptin,” the ensign greeted back and indicated for Jim to sit down in the seat opposite him before he had even asked. Sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder how intuitive the little genius really was.

“Mr. Chekov, I was hoping you could help me solve a problem.”

He was sure he did not imagine the way his opposite’s eyes lit up at that.

“Of course, Keptin. What kind of problem?”

“One regarding Hikaru Sulu,” Kirk clarified and reached for the cup in front of Chekov, earning no protests when he downed the remaining content. Chekov raised an eyebrow and Jim could see the beginning of a mirthful smirk forming at the corners of Chekov’s mouth, but the younger man steeled his face into a polite smile instead.

“What is it you wish to ask me?” he inquired, leaning forward a little, appearing to be the epitome of childish curiosity, if it weren’t for the almost-smirk-turned-smile and the slightly suspicious gleam in his eyes. Somehow, Jim suddenly had an uneasy feeling about this. Maybe not knowing why Sulu was looking at him that way wasn’t so bad after all?

But when had James Kirk ever chickened out of anything?

“Do you happen to know why he looks at me as if I set his plants on fire?”

A grin spread out over Chekov’s face unabashedly, lighting his eyes up with amusement as he shook his head a little at something Jim didn’t quite comprehend.

“Probably because he thinks I terminated our relationship because of you, Keptin,” he explained, a sheepish look coming to his face. Jim furrowed his brows. ‘Terminated our relationship’?

“Wait. You dumped him?”

“I did.”

“You were together?!” Jim’s eyebrows shot up, his whole body rigid with inquisitive tension for a moment as he leaned forward a little like maybe if he were closer to Chekov the words would sound different and his helmsmen hadn’t actually dated each other.

“Yes. We were… how do you say it… on and off for quite a while,” Chekov elaborated, seemingly not at all bothered by sharing his personal life with his captain. On the contrary, he reached for the plate of assorted fruit next to him and pushed it in between them before popping an orange little something Jim knew to be very sweet and juicy but couldn’t remember the planet it came from of, never mind its name, into his mouth.

Jim reached for a strawberry. First things first.

“How did that happen?” he asked. Chekov heaved a sigh that would have seemed grave on anyone other than a teenager before starting to recount.

“Hikaru and I met at the academy. He was assisting the professor in the compulsory piloting course. I was fifteen and he was very handsome and nice.”

Jim grinned at the way Chekov talked about being fifteen, seeing as it was only three years ago.

“It was very easy to crush on him and a lot of people from my class did. He was always nice to everyone but I thought he was especially nice to me. But I was only fifteen and there were very beautiful, older girls in the course also, so I thought I did not have a chance with him.”

Jim nodded to signal his attention and Chekov pushed another one of the orange somethings in between his lips before continuing.

“Then the class was over and I thought I would not see Hikaru again, but he told me that if I needed help with my studies I should come to him.”

Chekov smiled a soft smile that openly spoke of the affection he must have felt for the older pilot. Jim munched on another strawberry.

“He must have known that even when I came to see him I never really needed any help. But we pretended to study and met almost regularly. We flirted a lot. It made many of the girls in my classes very jealous.”

Jim observed Chekov stretching his arms above his head.

“I was too young to actually do anything with, it would have been very bad for Hikaru. So he didn’t even kiss me. I hated it. Then he was transferred to the Atalanta and when I turned sixteen, Commander Spock requested I be made Ensign and accompany him to Calonia. I thought I probably wouldn’t see Hikaru again or not very soon anyway and that he would have found a pretty girl until then.”

Chekov shrugged non-chalantly and nibbled at a strawberry before continuing. Jim had leaned back and listened to the ensign’s story.

“Six months into our assignment on Calonia, the Atalanta stopped there for supplies and shore leave. I was sixteen now and Hikaru said the moment he had seen me he had wanted me. We had as much sex as we could as long as he was there, but we didn’t want a relationship when we didn’t know when we would meet again.”

Jim raised an eyebrow. He had never thought of Ensign Chekov as a sexual being and somehow he assumed it would be weirder to hear him talk about having ‘as much sex as we could’. It wasn’t though. Weird, that is. Probably because he was aware, somewhere in the back of his mind, that he himself had been pretty active sexually as well by the time he had turned sixteen.

“But then Commander Spock was asked back for the examinations and I came with him. Hikaru was back as well because his Captain was supposed to do some exams, too. We had more sex and decided we wanted to try to stay together. Then the Nero incident happened and we both landed on the Enterprise.”

“So when Sulu and I were falling off that drill…” Jim interrupted. Chekov merely shrugged.

“I would have done the same if Hikaru had not been with you. But he was a good additional motivation, yes. Well, we were together for only a little while after that, there was too much happening to comprehend. When things settled down, we decided to try again and it was the first time we were really together. First it was very nice, but then…”

Chekov drifted off and heaved another of those incredibly heavy sighs. Jim couldn’t help the slightly paternal grin.

“Hikaru has a very short attention span for anything that is not piloting or plants. And he wants most what he cannot have. He wanted me not even though I was so young but because I was so young and he was not supposed to have me. And when he had me… well, he found other things to want.”

Chekov shrugged it off like it didn’t mean anything to him anymore, but the pain was still rather fresh in his eyes. This time it was Jim’s turn to sigh.

“Normally it was him who broke it off and I made the mistake to allow him to come back every time. I was very much in love with him. I don’t think he hurt me on purpose but I do not think that I deserve to be treated like that. So this time, I ended it.”

Jim was surprised by how mature Chekov sounded. He couldn’t have had many relationships to form such beliefs and he could still clearly remember the awkwardness of his own first few relationships and the absolutely horrible and messy break-ups. He was quite sure he wouldn’t have been able to say ‘I don’t think he hurt me on purpose’ and even look convincing while doing so.

“Hm,” he acknowledged the end of Chekov’s tale and took a few moments to gather his thoughts. There was something he had wanted to talk to Chekov about and it was not this…

Ah, yes.

“That does not really explain why he is mad at me, though,” he noted and pulled up both his eyebrows. Chekov laughed at that.

“Don’t worry, Keptin, I haven’t actually said to him that I am with you. He probably thinks so because I have always said that I would want to work with you, if I could.”

That pulled Jim’s eyebrows up even further. Was Chekov psychic as well on top of all his genius? They hadn’t met before the whole Nero shebang, he knew that. He was positive that he would have remembered if one of his academy-day (or rather night) drunken conquests would have turned out to be genius Russian jailbait.

“How come?” he asked, hoping that Chekov wasn’t one of those who admired his father’s shadow in him.

“I was there when you took the Kobayashi Maru for the first time. If it weren’t programmed to be unwinnable you would have had the crew rescued in a very short time. I can remember that you said ‘I don’t care how, but get the crew onto our ship safely’ when someone questioned your command. I liked that you cared so much for that crew and that you expected your bridge to be competent. I still like that very much about you”, Chekov smiled.

“Well, and I told Hikaru all about you after the test. I guess he has not forgotten.”

Jim laughed.

“He gets jealous that easily? I haven’t even talked to you outside shift for the last three days,” he remarked.

“Well, if I am with you, Keptin, then there is nothing on this ship that he can have less than he can have me.”

Why yes, the way the younger man’s eyes shone was almost evil. Jim decided then and there that he would try to stay on the ensign’s good side. He hadn’t even done anything yet and was already getting a sort of revenge on Sulu for dumping him (and possibly cheating on him) more than once. The promise of what would happen if he actually wanted it to that lay in those eyes did nothing to make Jim feel more comfortable.

“So you want him to be jealous. Do you want him back?”

“No, I do not want him back. But I think it is good for him if he does not get what he wants. So if you do not mind, Keptin, I will wait a little longer before I tell him that you and I are not sleeping together.”

Jim couldn’t help the laughter that escaped him. He waved one hand in a dismissive gesture and shook his head, feeling a little incredulous. He would not have thought that under the friendly exterior of his ensign lay an opportunistic little devil. But, he found, he actually kind of liked it. It reminded him of his own days as a juvenile delinquent. Not that what Chekov was doing was actually illegal.

“Yeah, sure, let him believe what he wants. Just, before he tries to stab me in my sleep, tell him, will you?”

This time it was Chekov who laughed.

“I do not think that he will attempt to harm you, Keptin. But, yes, I will tell him eventually.”

Giving the ensign a friendly clap on the shoulder, Jim stood up. Overcome by a sudden idea, mischief started to sparkle in his eyes as well.

“Well, Ensign, I’ll be needing your assistance on delta shift then. And there’s this data from science I’d like to go through with you. Be sure to report to my quarters at 1900 tomorrow.”

Pavel’s grin stretched out over his lips easily, speaking of genuine delight and a hint of evil.

“Aye, Keptin.”

It probably wasn’t a smart idea, Jim thought as he reached for the last remaining fruit on the plate, popped it in his mouth and turned around. But it was a really fun idea. And helping out his crew, especially the younger ones, was his duty as Captain, wasn’t it?

So when Hikaru Sulu glowered at him the next morning he knew why and gave a cheerful wave in return.

**The End**


End file.
